ORIGIN

Black Series: Euro 1982 Mercedes Benz 500SL AMG

This 1982 Mercedes Benz 500 SL AMG (chassis WDBBA48D1GA051451) is a Euro import model never officially offered stateside. The 500’s are rare enough on their own, with only 11,822 built between 1981-’89, and the real AMG tuned variants are even scarcer. This one has quite a few miles on the clock but has recently had a lot of expensive work done, and it comes with service records dating back to the 80s and a hardtop. Dark colors worked best for the fully monochromatic AMG schemes of the era, and the 5-spoke wheels are some of our favorite wheels of all time. Find this one here on eBay in Arlington, Texas with no reserve.

The car is not perfect cosmetically and shows a fair amount of small dings, scratches, and touch-ups here and there. Overall, though, it seems straight, solid, and wears decent paint that may be salvageable with a lot of elbow grease and polish. Trim and plastics look decent, and the convertible top seems well preserved as well. Black on black over black is very cool in an AMG Hammer kindof way, and one can never go wrong with Penta wheels on an R107 series SL.

Interior photos aren’t great, but from what we can tell things look pretty nice inside. Carpet, upholstery, and dash top all seem to bein good shape, but the period AMG four spoke steering wheel looks like it’s wearing a cheap rim cover that may be hiding damaged leather. The AMG badging on the gear lever is de-laminating and will need replacement, and wood veneers may well be in a similar state–still, we’d rather source new wood than shell out for new upholstery. A/C is said to blow cold, saving the new owner a potentially huge bill.

Mechanically, things sound quite sorted, and recent work detailed is quite lengthy. For the most part the seller doesn’t say what’s been rebuilt, repaired, or what is new, but items included are: master cylinder, rotors, calipers, pads (new, obviously), tires (ditto), exhaust manifold, rear axles, thermostat, fuel filter, battery (new), tie rods, ball joints, steering damper, timing chain, tensioners, and a tranny rebuild dating from 2008. They state no expense has been spared and that car fires up the first time, every time. Rare, original AMG shocks are included but need to be rebuilt, and the car now wears Bilsteins instead. The seller says it’s super reliable and is capable of cross-country drives as-is.

With most of not all the heavy lifting already done, we’d tend to the cosmetic issues and then simply enjoy driving one of the baddest looking SL’s ever built. We really want to see it parked next to a W124 Hammer or an AMG kitted W126 coupe, come on Cars & Coffee, Dallas!